"The table was terribly untidy. Breadcrumbs soaked in the damp red
stains, olive-stones floated in glasses, cigarette-ends sizzled in
salad-plates. And we did not lift a little finger, we did not put a
glass or a fork right, but just let the mess grow worse before us. We
even leaned on it, growing callous, and delicately picked out of the
wreckage the bare essentials. the bitter wine that was needed to keep
the evening going."

This passage, midway through Ten Seconds from Now, not only attests to
Greek Novelist Kay Cicellis'...